Avengers-Forgotten Love
by Tristate26
Summary: Bruce Banner occupies himself in a lab so he doesnt have to deal with all his personal provlems but what happens when it all comes crashing down around him, and the only one that can save him has been absent from his life for at least 3 years? Wanda Maximoff decides to asssist. Betty Ross/Bruce Banner.
1. chapter 1

Laboratories were welcome reliefs from living rooms and day rooms where everyone gathered for conversation. A thousand voices talking about things that hardly mattered in the grand scheme of things. Dr. Banner hadn't the time for little things like that. Useless conversations did nothing in the face of scientific discovery. He separated himself from them. The Avengers.

The team was great. So many people from different places with so many different abilities and powers. It was truly amazing to be in the presence of near godlike mortals, and from an scientific standpoint, amazing. Seeing all their different physiologies and how their bodies worked compared to that of a normal human being. The curse however, in Dr. Banner's case was the flashes of him putting them through the ground, or throwing them through buildings as The Hulk. He pushed the thoughts out of his head as he cleared his thoughts.

He was focusing on the energy absorption in Black Panther's suit that allowed him to store it and then discharge it as he chose, giving his punches a lot more force and if he wanted, a blast radius. He wanted to see if he could take the same idea, and transfer it into Sam Wilson's suit or Black Widow's. Let them get more bang for their buck. Not that they needed it or anything, but every advantage helped. As far as he could tell, it narrowed down to the Vibranium being able to absorb vibrations and such, which is how T'Challa could move and jumped how he did. The suit was basically one giant shock absorber because of the metal.

He glanced to the picture on his desk. A brown haired girl in a lab coat hugging another taller man in a lab coat. Brown hair with glasses. Betty. He stopped looking at the holographic displays of data that he had already read. He reached through and grabbed the photo. He was looking at it and frowning. God he missed her so much. All this Avenger shit and being a superhuman physician, it was all so he could get his mind off of his mess of a personal life.

He began to tear up. Good god how long had it been since he saw her? She was the reason why he was here in the first place. What was he even doing anymore? "Doctor Banner? You in here?" He didn't hear it, lost in thought. Her father never approved of him, even less so when he became the Hulk. The only woman who had ever cared for him. The one good thing his intelligence brought him, and he would probably never see her again. He began to cry, and then he felt arms wrap around his neck and weight on his back, causing him to freeze. "You really miss her don't you?" It was Wanda. The Scarlet Witch.

"This is...I'm not at my best. One second I can get it together." He put the picture down. She didn't let go.

"You don't have to push it away. You're allowed to have feelings." She told him.

"My feelings always lead to one solid emotion." He told her. "It's a nice quiet day, no reason to change that." He said as he sniffed and wiped his tears. "I just...It doesn't matter." He sighed.

"Bruce. You're an important part to this team. We need you as much as anyone else." She told him. He sighed. That wasn't true.

"Wanda. We both know that isn't true." He sighed. "Stark, Pym, Janet, Strange, Beast, Vision to an extent. We're no short of brains. You don't really need me." He said. "I'm just the back up plan when all else fails, or the thing that causes the contingency plan." He told her. "She was why I started all of this. If I could stop destroying things, do something useful, maybe I could be something. I could be good for her. I never was..."

"Shhh." She said as she embraced him. "You are. You need to go see her." He shook his head.

"No. That's a horrible idea." She shook her head.

"She could be thinking the same thing. You never know until you try. I never expected any of you to welcome me back when..." she stopped. He knew what she was gonna say.

"That's different. You had a whole different kind of stress on you." He defended her.

"I killed my husband and Antman and Clint..." She frowned. "Now this is the only family I have. They took me back. She'll take you. Let's go." She picked him up from the chair.

"Right now?" He asked. She nodded. "Like right now?"

"Mhm." He sighed, taking the lab coat off. He had on a nice black button up shirt and jeans on. "I'm gonna be with you the whole time."

"I'm trusting you." He said as he got up and walked away from his work. They walked to the entrance of the lab and then down the halls of the Avengers mansion. "You know we can always just go get food. We can make it a nice team building day." He suggested.

"Food with Betty." She corrected as they got to the door. He sighed as he walked out the door to the gate.

"You got him to leave the lab? I'm impressed." It was Carol, walking down the stairs. "What was the trick?"

"Trade secret. I'll tell you later. Have a team on standby." She joked. Ms. Marvel laughed as she waved to Wanda.


	2. Elizabeth Ross

Elizabeth Ross tired away in her lab. Working towards a cure of cancer inside of certain cells in the body. Parker industries gave her plenty of resources and Peter accepted her in with open arms. That was at least three years ago. Told her he hadn't seen her in a million years and he missed her. She returned the sentiment. She'd been very stressed out here recently with her work. It seemed that no matter how many algorithms she wrote or how many types of code she could write up, nothing seemed to kill it completely. She was at the end of her wits, about to scream. Plus with all the constant bothering from her father, and then few break ins they've had with the Goblin and then Venom later, all trying to get Spider-Man. Then the Avengers stopping an attack from Hydra, she saw Jennifer there. It reminded her of him.

She stopped with the data and the microscopes and the constant writing, pulling out her phone, she opened the gallery and flipped through it, going close to the bottom, she found it. A picture so old she didn't even remember who took it. It was outside some ice cream shop. She had a cone in her hand and the man she was with had a cup. She was laughing and he had a big smile. "Oh Bruce..." she frowned and dropped her head. She was trying to help people, but the last time they talked was during the whole Ultron ordeal. She remembered his words. "I might not come back from this one. Even the Hulk has things that can stop him. I want you to be safe, which means it's far from me." She shook her head.

If it wasn't for him, she doubted she'd get anywhere with her work. Her Doctorates looked good on paper, but what did they really mean? She wasn't a hero like Bruce. She remembered when he rushed out to save Rick from the gamma bomb, exposing himself to the radiation and turning into the Hulk. Of course afterward they had multiple theories of whether or not the hulk existed before the accident and that was just the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. Didn't matter in the end. He was the Hulk, but he's also an intelligent scientist, and a very good man. That reason alone was enough for her to love him. If she loved him so, why did she not talk to him? He's got the Avengers and SHIELD and all of his superpowered friends, how could she compare to all of them. Plus, he was probably swamped with work, when he wasn't testing theories he was probably being an actual doctor, or even more so, in the field as The Hulk when they needed back up. No time for her. No time for them. She closed her eyes as tears started to drop.


	3. Cut from the same cloth

A whole day of travel. Wanda had an optimistic smile on her face as she walked through the masses of people that she was entrusted to protect on a daily basis. It was always nice to see the good people in the city, made her feel like she actually played an important part in her role as an Avenger. Plus it helped her also block out Dr. Banner who, since they stepped from the mansion, had at least mentioned three hundred and forty two excuses or other plans to get him out of going to see Elizabeth Ross.

"...What do you think?" She zones back into Bruce again, trying to get out of it.

"I think it'll be nice." She told him plainly.

"Really?!" He had some hope in his voice.

"Yeah totally. I haven't seen Betty in a really long time. I miss her too." He let out a distressed sigh as they rounded the block down to the giant Parker Industries building. "Look, the end is in sight." He nodded as they walked down the street to the giant glass skyscraper. Crossing the street, they walked up the stone stairs to the entrance. Wanda stopped, Bruce did the same.

"You good?" He asked. She nodded.

"Okay. If you want to turn around, go back to the lab, we can." She placed her hands on her hips. "If you absolutely think this is the worst possible idea you could have. Then we can leave right now, and no one will say anything. You still want to walk away?" Bruce looked up at the giant building, his stomach was in knots. The feel of her embrace, the simple sensation of her lips, more than enough for him.

"Let's go." He said, going into the revolving doors and up to the lady at the front desk. "Hello-"

"Oh my god!" The receptionist was a dark haired chubby college student. She had glasses on her face and was scrolling through her tablet, and then glancing over to a worn down pink notebook. That is, until she saw Bruce at least. "You're-You're him!" She pointed, exclaiming in the otherwise quiet building. He raised his hand and nodded.

"Yeah. The big green guy. I know-"

"No!" She shouted. "I could care less! I mean yes, it's cool and a bit scary, but!" She paused dramatically then pointed at him. "You're Dr. Bruce Banner! THE Bruce Banner! Your journals into the world of nuclear physics with your experiments on gamma radiation, and then your anti-electron collision theories! It's-Oh my god. I'm so unprofessional... I am so sorry." She was turning a darker red than Wanda's clothing. Banner smiled.

"It's quite okay. I'm glad that someone actually reads my work." He tells her, her youthful eyes light up. "You found it interesting?" He asked.

"Interesting?! It was astounding! No one had ever thought that the effects of gamma radiation could ever cause any of that!" She was enthralled by Bruce. He was just as impressed that someone else actually found his work enlightening. "Your work definitely inspired me to go into the science field, nuclear physics and biochem especially. We studied your work in class. It's...it's an honor." She said. He offered his hand and she looked at it the way a person would stare at a gold bar.

"I'm honored to meet the future scientist that will no doubt replace me." She laughed nervously as she shook his hand. It was small, fragile and cold.

"I-I don't know about any of that. I'm still in school, I'm here as an internship." He shrugged.

"It's what you should aspire for. We are in need of great minds...I don't think I ever caught your name." She let out another exasperated sigh.

"Oh my-I am so-Karly. Karly Andrews." He nodded as he took out his pen.

"Can I see your notebook?" He asked. She nodded. Fumbling with it as she shakily handed it to him. He opened it, seeing the back of the front cover was pretty much unscathed save for a couple numbers with names. He wrote a nicety and then his name. "To the next nuclear physicist. Dr. Banner." He gave it back and she squealed out loud. "Don't be afraid to ask questions, and never be afraid to venture out of your comfort zone. You only learn as much as you allow yourself to Ms. Andrews." She nodded with a giant smile. "Now can you do me a favor?"

"Anything you need." She put the notebook down.

"Can you page an Elizabeth Ross? See if she's taking visitors?" He asked. She nodded.

"Yeah sure. Old friend of yours?" Something like that.

"Yeah. I haven't seen her in a while. Don't mention it's me." He said. She nodded as she dialed a number on the phone. They waited. It seemed like forever, then she nodded.

"Hello Ms. Ross? Are you in your lab? Alright. Thank you." She hung up. "End of the hallway, down the stairs. Second door on your left." They both nodded to her with a smile. "Thank you so much Doctor." He shook his head.

"Thank you for being so eager and unafraid to join my line of work. We can only benefit from having more minds." She nodded as they walked past her.

"And you say you're bad for people." Wanda nudged him. He shrugged.

"Anything for a fan. Besides, I remember how difficult it was for me to break into my fields. Anything helps. If she's doing it right, she's not sleeping." He said, reminiscing of his college days as he walked down the stairwell and then stopping outside of Betty's lab. "Alright. Korvac, Galactus, Thanos, Ultron, anyone want to attack right now and save me?" He asked out loud as he looked at the metal door. Wanda swatted at his arm.

"Stop ittt. Let's go." She knocked on the door. He backed up so she would get the first glimpse from Betty.


	4. Reunited

The call from the receptionist confused her. Why wouldn't she be in her lab? Where else would she be? She hardly went home, seeing as her work took up the majority of her day and nights anymore. She'd slept probably 14 of the last 96 hours. She was close, she knew it. However, this whole emotional distraction was beginning to prove more potent than she thought. There was a knock at her door. Sighing, she stood up and walked over to it. Probably Peter telling her to go home. She opened it to see a brown haired woman in scarlet. "W-Wanda?" She asked.

"Hey! It's been a while hasn't it?" Betty nodded. God, it had been years. She was still SHIELD science staff.

"Are you okay? I heard about all the-You probably don't want to talk about it. I'm sorry, I was worried for a long time." The Scarlet Witch smiled. The whole house of M thing wasn't something she was proud of, but at least Betty was respectful about it.

"No. It's quite fine. It was a troubling time...I'm sorry for all of that. But uh, how have you been?" She asked. Betty sighed.

"Stressed with work. I don't think I'm half as good a scientist as Bruce thought I was. Oh my-Have you seen him? Is he..." Wanda smile was bigger than the list of doctorates she had. "What?"

"Why don't you ask him?" She asked, waving at Bruce. Her stomach halted as he walked forward. Button up shirt, jeans and a belt. Glasses. Quirky smile and all.

He waved at her. "Hey Bets." She squealed as she ran at him and hugged him. He returned the embrace with a laugh. "I missed you too." He said with a nervous chuckle.

"Oh you! You stupid scientist!" She said in his ear. "I think the big green guy is smarter sometimes good god! Three years!" She punched him repeatedly. They didn't hurt, but it helped her get it out. "Three damn years! God! You don't think I miss you or didn't want to hear from you or wondered if you're alive?!" She shouted.

"I got the big guy. You should know-"

"Yeah well back in the day he used to be the biggest guy around! Now we have Inhumans and Venoms and Ultrons and-I just worry about you damn it!" She shouted. "God. You're why I kept going in this field." He nodded.

"You're why I'm still around period." He told her. "All my Avenger and SHIELD status and why I keep the big guy around, just so I can keep you safe." He said as she buried her face in his neck, she had tears running down her face. "You're why I keep doing it. I have no stake here anymore without you, Elizabeth Ross." She sobbed a bit.

"I love you, and the big green idiot!" She shouted. "God. You frustrate me."

"I love you too Betty." He said as he looked into her eyes, their gazes met, and their lips slowly followed suit. A white light interrupted them. Wanda took a picture of them with her phone, a devious smile on her face.

"I'll send it to you two later." She told them. "I told you Dr. Banner." He nodded happily as they held each other still.

"You did." He admitted as he pulled her in close and rested his chin on her head. "You definitely did, Ms. Maximoff."

"I'll leave you two to each other. Me and Betty can catch up later. I'll be back at the mansion." Bruce nodded as she exited the lab. The door closed behind her as they locked lips one more time.


End file.
